Palacio de Cortes

The Palace of Cortés in Cuernavaca, Mexico, is, at almost 500 years old, the oldest conserved colonial era civil structure in the continental Americas. The building began as a fortified residence for Hernán Cortés and his second wife Juana Zúñiga. It was built in 1526, over a Tlahuica/Aztec tribute collection center, which was destroyed by the Spanish during the Conquest. Cortés replaced it with a personal residence to assert authority over the newly conquered peoples. As Cortés’ residence, it reached its height in the 1530s, but the family eventually abandoned it. [Wiki]

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”
― Lao Tzu

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Cuernavaca Streets

(iPhone Shots+Snapseed)

Cuernavaca From: Nahuatl: Cuauhnāhuac (“Near the Woods"). It was established at the archeological site of Gualupita I by the Olmec, "The Mother Culture" of Mesoamerica, approximately 3200 years ago. It is also a municipality located about 85 km (53 mi) south of Mexico City on the D-95 freeway.

The city was nicknamed the "City of Eternal Spring" by Alexander von Humboldt in the nineteenth century. It has long been a favorite escape for Mexico City and foreign visitors because of this warm, stable climate and abundant vegetation. Aztec emperors had summer residences there, and even today, many famous people as well as Mexico City residents maintain homes there. Cuernavaca is also host to a large foreign resident population, including large numbers of students who come to study the Spanish language.

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Bronze and Flesh

Installation of sculptures in main square of Cuernavaca (not finished yet)

Street Vendor in rural Mexico

Mexico's rampant poverty, lagged social development and general public welfare is strongly tied to its politics. Historically, the political system of Mexico has not favored the general population, mainly because it focused to become and be a single-party system of government, largely dubbed "institutionalized" where those in charge had a one-voice, unquestionable plan of action mainly focused to favor the few elite while ignoring the welfare of the rest of population. From the 1800s to the end of the 20th century, as presidential administration came and went, the forms of government has been described as authoritarian, semi-democracy, centralized government, untouchable presidencies, mass-controlling, corporatist and elite-controlled. As each administration took turn, some changes have occurred, sometimes as to contribute to the welfare of the least fortunates but history has clearly shown that poverty has remained constant at any given time in the history of Mexico. Overall, the political framework behind the economic and social structure of the country continues to be the greatest contributor to inequality. The political economy of the country has been inadequate and unfair for many decades.

Corruption is rampant in Mexico. Mexico's government has been historically corrupt at all hierarchical levels: federal, state, and local. Mexico ranks high-to-very high among most corrupted countries in the world. The cost of corruption in Mexico is equal to 9 percent of the country's GDP. Business companies admit to spend as much as 10 percent of their revenue in bureaucratic bribes. 39 percent is spent on bribing high-ranking policy makers and 61 percent on lower-ranking bureaucratic-administrative office holders. At least 30 percent of all public spending ends up in the pockets of the corrupt. With these rankings, it is clear that the unethical practices by government officials directly affect the population, their development and the state of poverty in which they remain. [Wiki]

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Thanks for visiting, please be sure that I read each and every one of your kind comments, I appreciate them all. Stay tuned.

April 2009 Theme Day: Yellow

I

Tower of The Palacio de Cortés, residence of conquistador Hernán Cortés after he moved to the town of Cuernavaca from Mexico City. It was intended to be the seat of his encomienda.

Construction of the residence was started in 1526, for which the local population was employed. Cortés decided to build his residence on top of a hill, on the ruins of the lordship of Cuauhnahuac. This place had been used by the Aztecs to collect tribute, and therefore it was a symbol of Cortés' dominance over the conquered territory.
II

Betto Stylist

How wonderful yellow is. It stands for the Sun.
Vincent Van Gogh.

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

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Gracias por su visita / Thanks for visiting.